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Date
: 10/09/2004
Source: Ministry of Correctional services
Title: N Balfour: Launch of Moral Regeneration Movement
ADDRESS BY THE MINISTER OF CORRECTIONAL SERVICES, MR BMN BALFOUR,
MP, AT THE LAUNCH OF THE MORAL REGENERATION MOVEMENT BY THE NELSON
MANDELA METROPOLITAN MUNICIPALITY, 10 September 2004
Programme Director Clr A Mbewu
Reverends Jita and Vava
MEC for Safety, Liaison & Transport Mr Thobile Mhlahlo
Deputy Executive Mayor Clr B Ndoni
Speaker Clr N Mohapi
National Commissioner Linda Mti
Invited Dignitaries
Representatives of the Nelson Mandela Metro and of DCS
Inmates of St Albans
Ladies and Gentlemen
It is just nine days short of a year that our Honourable Deputy
President Jacob Zuma launched the Eastern Cape Moral Regeneration
Movement in Bisho. It is, therefore, most appropriate that the
Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipality in conjunction with the
Eastern Cape Department of Correctional Services have chosen today,
in Heritage month, to launch their own movement in our attempts to
build and strengthen the moral fibre of our communities and our
society.
In our tenth year of democracy, our country has experienced so
much. Opportunities have been created that never existed before.
The lives of millions of ordinary South Africans have been touched
and influenced in ways that many of us thought would never be
possible in our lifetime.
The building of democracy in our country brought freedom to us all.
But it also brought responsibilities and challenges.
We have embraced those freedoms that have created the space for us
to grow as a people and a nation. Yet, the challenges still remain
daunting despite the tremendous progress that we have made.
Amongst those challenges is the unwillingness and even refusal of
some South Africans to accept responsibility. They want to enjoy
the privileges and rights of freedom without accepting the need for
responsibility. It is those South Africans, both young and old, at
whom we mainly want to direct this growing movement towards moral
regeneration.
South Africans can today boast of access to basic facilities that
never existed in the past. More of our people have houses, more of
our people have access to electricity and running water, more of
our people have access to sanitation, to health and to education.
But the challenge to improve the quality of life of all South
Africans and to eradicate poverty remains and we must continue
working tirelessly to give effect to the Peoples Contract to build
a better South Africa and a better world.
How do we, together, build that better South Africa and a better
world?
The success of our moral regeneration programmes will lead us in
that direction. Communities must join hands with government in
building this great nation. We need to be building a society where
needles are not used for drugs, but for expanding our textile
industry, where knives are not used for stabbing but in our
kitchens for preparing food, where guns are not used for killing
but for the protection of our country and where physical strength
is not used for child and woman abuse but rather as a source to
protect our people.
This is at the heart of our moral regeneration movement; where all
of us use our individual talents and skills in building our
nation.
It is most appropriate that the moral regeneration movement find
expression within our correctional centres such as St Albans. The
equality and freedom that we enjoy must be translated into respect
for each other, respect for life and the possessions of others as
well as respect for human rights and dignity. We need to be
discovering the adhesive that bonds us as communities. We need to
be saying NO to crime; NO to abuse; NO to drugs and NO to the
exploitation of one being by another.
As South Africans, this is the only country we know and love. This
is the country that gave birth to us and this is the country that
will provide our offspring with a future. We need to safeguard it.
We need to defend it. We need to protect it. But we can only do so
if we share a common identity and a shared purpose.
Our prisons must not be seen as places for outcasts and as places
of punishment. As communities, we need to turn prisons into places
of correction where those who have offended society through their
deeds are shown the error of their ways; where they are given the
opportunity to acknowledge fault and the chance to correct
themselves. Only then, will we become a caring society. Only then
will we be on the path to creating a society where our children
will enjoy the fruits of decades of struggle; only then will we be
able to claim that our country has truly come of age.
How do we as society contribute towards the rehabilitation of
inmates, working towards their ultimate reintegration into
society?
We do that by taking responsibility as communities for corrections.
No longer can we leave that task only to the criminal justice
system and the Department of Correctional Services. As communities,
we must start owning the correctional centres and taking charge of
those who are guilty of crime and offending against society. As
members of communities, we must stop offering protection to those
guilty of crime against our people; we must the silence that many
of them demand of us; we must stop being the recipients of stolen
goods; we must stop remaining silent in the face of woman and child
abuse.
We need to turn the tide. We need to be saying out loudly and
clearly: no more will we tolerate wrongs, no more will we encourage
immorality; no more will we remain silent against
gangsterism.
We must continue reaching out to inmates but with new weapons at
our disposal. We need to use weapons of persuasion; weapons of
corrections; weapons of morality; weapons of support. And this is
best done within our families. Strong families are at the
cornerstone of the moral regeneration movement. Strong families
bring an influence to bear on deviant behaviour. Strong families
are the adhesive that we need to rebuild of communities and our
society.
We need to ensure that our children have love and care, but that
they also have respect. No one else can ensure that but you as a
mother, father, big brother and older sister. Let us start building
those relationships that we have neglected. Let us build character
within our youth so that they can strive towards those ideals that
many have died for.
To those who have already lost track of the path of love and
respect, through our actions, let us embrace them and take them
into our bosom of caring. There are many South Africans who are
bitter at what they experience daily in their lives as a result of
criminality. Let us also reach out to them and demonstrate how,
through their involvement, we can bring about change.
At the heart of our moral regeneration campaign should be
correction, restoring justice, rehabilitation and finally,
reintegration. Only then will offenders start accepting that they
have a role to play other than in wrong-doing; only then will
victims of crime accept that they can contribute towards the
prevention of repeat offending and only then will we be able to
claim that we are well and truly free.
The Metro is to be commended and congratulated on this initiative.
This partnership with Correctional Services is what we seek with
our communities. We need to extend it to every corner of the
Eastern Cape and to every part of our country. Our heritage is at
stake and we will not sacrifice it. To those who believe in the
future of our country and people, the doors of moral regeneration
are open to you. To those who refuse to be part of the building of
our nation - we say that we will no longer tolerate you and if we
cannot transform and change you in your thoughts and deeds, we will
ostracise and isolate you, as that would have been your choice. But
even at this late hour, we hold out hope where there is
hopelessness and love where there is none.
I believe that we have truth and justice on our side and I want to
wish the Nelson Mandela Metro all the strength in the challenging
road that lies ahead.
I thank you.
Issued by: Ministry of Correctional Services
10 September 2004
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